The Snail Factory

Zen and the Art of Torture

It's not apparent from the comic but Gungor is in fact singing.

Gungor's parents told him again and again that he had a lovely deep voice and were happy to pay for his two years at Julliard. But from there, Gungor failed to survive the industry's politics and pomp. He never sang for an audience as a young man-orb-thing, but still found it a release and emotional catharsis.

It was this lonely habit that years later, long after his time at the Factory, would finally give Gungor his moment in the spotlight. After the Kardashian years (See Blurb 74), Gungor was hitchhiking through Alabama when Saul Israel Holiff overheard his lonely requiem for a hot dog he had dropped into the campfire. Holiff immediately asked him to open for Johnny Cash. Gungor was delighted and eager to perform.

As the house lights went down and the lone brilliant circle lit Gungor's cracked skin, he sang "I Dreamed a Dream" from the then-popular "Les Miserable" and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Holiff and Cash went to congratulate Gungor after the show, Holiff even intended to offer him a contract but couldn't find him. Gungor had moved on, walking alone into the cold night air, never to sing again.